The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1887-06-23

lorn, and the wretched, and the outcast
70 come and sit down beside hint Oh,
wonderfulinvitatlont You can take Il TO
day, and sand at the head Of the daFkS,;
alley m this city, and say,
comel Clothes for year fafs, salve for you
sores sthroae for year eternal reigning
pass "a now, and look At Stephen
stoned. The world has always wanted L
get rid OF good men. Their very life i:
an assault upon wickedness. Out with
| stephen through the gates Of tbs city
Down with him over the precipices Let
every man come and drop q stone upon
his head. But these mon did not SO much
kill Stephen as they killed themselves.
Every stone rebounde1 upon them.
While these ridrderers wore trans
fixed by the scorn OF all gooi
| men Stephen lives In the admira-
ton Of all Ghr'a.andom. Stephen
| stoned but stephen alive SO all good
| men Must be pelted. All who will live
| godly in Christ Jesus must suffer perse.
cution. 1t is no eulogy OF a man to say
that every body likes him, Show Rae one
who is doing all his duty to State or
Church, and will show you scores OF m en-
| who utterly abhor him.
IL all men speak well OF you Il IL be.
| cause you are either a laggard or dolt
| IL a steamer makes a rapid progress
| through the waves the water will boil and
foam all around it. Brave soldiers of
Jesus Christ will hear the carbine's click.
When see man with voice, and money,
and influence all on the rlghS side, and
some csricature him, and some sneer at
him, and some denounce him, and men
who pretend to be actuated by right mo-
tives conspire to cripple him, to cast him
out, to destroy him, / say: stephen
stoned"
When see man in some great Moral
or religious form batting against grog-
shops, exposing wickedness in high
places, by active means trying to purify
the church and better the worlds estate
and md that the newspaper aGathemat-
lze him, and men' even good men, oppose
MIN and denounce him, becaus ;, though he
does good, he does not do 1t in their way,
say: stephen ston ed"
The world, with in f1nite spite, took after
John Frederick Oberlin, and Robert Moi
fat, and Paul and Stephen of the text
But you notice, my friends, that while
they assaulted him they did not succeed
really in killing him. You may assault a
good man, but you can not kill him. On
the day of his death Stephen spoke be-
fore few people in the Sanhcdrim; this
sabbath morning no addresses all Chris.
tendon. Paul the apostle stood on Mars
Hill addressing handful of philosophers,
Who Knew not so much about science
as modern school girl. Today he talks
to all the millions Of Christeniom about
the wonders OF justification and the
glorIes of resurrection. John Wesley
was howled down by the mob TO whom he
preached, and they threw bricks at him,
nd 4 D. al Il.
him, and thsy spat upon him, and yet to-
day, in all lands, he IS admitted to be the
great father of Mclhodism. Booths bu!-
let vacated the Presidential chair, but
from that spot Of coagulated blood on the
floor in the box Of Ford's Thsatcr there
sprang up the new life of nation.
stephen stoned, but Stephen alive.
Pass on now and see Stephen in his
dying prayer. His first thought was not
how the stones hurt his head, nor what
became of his body His first thought
was about his spirit.
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit
The murderer standing on the trap
door, the black zap being drawn over his
head before the execution, may grimace
about the future; but you ana | hare no
shame in contrasting some anxiety about
where we are going to come out You are
not all body. There is within you soul.
see it CLEAN from your eyes to-day, and
l see it irridlating your countenance.
Sometimes / am abashed before an audi
ence, not because l I'm under your phys
ical eyesight, but because / realize the
truth that stand before 50 many immor-
tai spirits, Tho probability ia that your
body will at last find a sepulture in
some of the cemeteries that surround
this city. There Is no doubt but that
your obsequies will be decent and
respectful, and you will be able to
pillow your head under the maple, or the
Norway spruce, or the cypress. or the
poisoning fire but this spirit about
which stephen prayed, what direction
will that takel What guide will escort itl
What gate will open to receive it! What
cloud will be cleft for it's p lthway! After
it has got beyond the light OF our sun,
Will there be torches lighted for it the
rest of the way. Will the soul have to
travel through long deserts before it
reaches the good landl If we should lose
our pathway will there be castle at
whose gate we may ask the way to the
cityl o this mysterious spirit within US !
1t has two wings, but it is in cage now
1t is locked fast to keep it, but let the
door of this case open the least, and that
soul is off. Eagles wing could not catch
it. The lightnings are not swift enough
to take up with it. When the soul leaves
the body it takes fifty worlds ut q
bound And have no anxiety
about i'll Have you no anxiety about it'll
do not care what you do with my body
when my soul is gone, or whether you be-
lieve in cremation or inhumatlon. ] shall
sleep just as well in a wrapping of sack
cloth as in satin lined with !Cla's down.
But my soul-before l leave this hou Sc
this morning l will find out whore it il
going to land Thank G ID for the intima-
ton Of my text, that When we die Jesus
takes Us. That answers all questions for
me. What though there were massive
bars between here and the city of light,
Jesus could remove tn IN. What though
there were great Saharas of darkness,
Jesus could illume them. What though l
get weary on the way, Christ could lift
me on his ON lipotelt shoulder What
though there were chasms to cross, his
hand could transport me. Then let Steph-
ems prayer be my dying litany:
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit
1t may be in that hour we will be too
feeble to say long prayer. 1t may be in
that hour we will not be able to say the
Lords Prayer" for it has seven petit
tions. Perhaps we may be too feeble even
to say the infant prayer our mothers
taught US, which John Quincy Adams,
seventy years of age, sal every ight
when he put his head upon his pillow:
Now lay me down to sleep,
Ipray the Lord my soul TO keep.
We may be too feeble to employ either